The Moyen-âge is a time or historical period Occident ale located between the Antiquité and the Modern times (begin with the Renaissance), that is to say between 476 (falls of the Roman Empire of Occident) and 1450 (invention of printing works) after Jesus-Christ, of. It extends over one period from approximately thousand years that the historians divided into several parts.

Definition

The term “  Moyen  Âge  ” for the first time was used by the Humanistes. In 1469, the expression appears in Latin - media tempestas - in the correspondence of Giovanni Andrea dei Bussi. Flavio Biondo of Forlì mentions it in the same way in its work Historiarum ab Inclinatione Romanorum Imperii (Venice, 1483).

At the 17th century, Christoph Keller, Philologist German better known under the Latinized name of Cellarius, takes again the expression of “Great age” for its tripartite chronology of the history in order to mark the time running out of 4th at the 15th centuries. The Middle Ages are thus defined in opposition to the Renaissance which would have followed it. The term is taken in bad share and translated the posted contempt of the scientists for one time considered to be “obscure” or “Gothic”. It is necessary to await the 18th century and the writings Herder, Joseph de Maistre and Edmund Burke so that the period receives a more generous treatment historiographic.

In French, the adjective corresponding to “  Moyen  Âge  ” is “  médiéval  ”. “  Moyenâgeux  ”, as for him, is pejorative, or at least out-of-date (“  an environment médiévale  ”, “  an environment moyenâgeuse  ”). The medieval history, as a discipline, also names “  History médiévale  ”. A historian who studies the Middle Ages is called “  Médiéviste  ”. However, the expression “the Middle Ages” wants nothing to say as such. It comes from the Latin expression medium ævum which means “intermediate age” or “Middle Age” of a man. Thus, “the Middle Ages” represent an intermediate age between various times, various artistic currents.

The contemporary Historiographie rather tends to regard the Renaissance as one transitional period between medieval time and modern time, with the rather fuzzy chronological limits (roughly speaking of 1420 with 1630). One can thus speak justifiably about a medieval period of the Rebirth.

Chronology of the Middle Ages

The exact limits of the Middle Ages as well as cutting in various periods are discussed and are the subject still of debates between Historien S.

See also: Chronology of the Middle Ages

Traditionally, one makes begin the Middle Ages with the deposition of the last Roman Emperor of Occident Romulus Augustule (* towards 460 - † after 511) with Odoacre in 476. However, much of contemporary historians make perdurer Antiquity beyond this date. Some retain the death of Clovis I {{er}} the November 27th 511 like dates conventional from the end of Antiquity. Others make begin the Middle Ages with death from Sainte Genevieve the January 3rd 512. In France, one estimates traditionally that the end of Antiquity (and by consequence the beginning of the Middle Ages) coincides with the baptism of Clovis, on December 25th 498 (discussed date itself). At all events, a single event can play only one symbolic system part in a change of time, which in fact is a process.

The Fin of the Middle Ages is generally located towards 1500; several dates symbolic systems were proposed by the historians:

  • Towards 1440 takes place the invention of the mobile Caractères of Imprimerie by Gutenberg and towards 1450, the development of the first Screw press.

  • 1453

    • Constantinople, old the Byzance, capital of the Roman Empire of the East, falls to the hands from the Othoman (Chute of Constantinople) and becomes Istanbul.
    • Fine of the War One hundred Year old, with the French victory over England (Battle of Castillon).

With a convenient approximation to retain, the Middle Ages extend from 500 to 1500.

More generally, the Grandes discoveries mark the beginning of what one can already call the Mondialisation (exchange growth between various distant countries, permitted by new inventions and discovered).

Main features of the medieval Occident

Definition of the Occident

The word occident indicates at the same time a territory and a civilization with the Middle Ages. The territory of the Occident covers the west of Europe (the Europe term is employed very little before the Renaissance), without recutting exactly the limits of the Roman Empire of occident.

The Eastern limits of this unit are fuzzy and moving during the period. As a civilization, the Occident is the field of the Roman Christianity, whose language is Latin. He is opposed to the territories the pagan ones, Moslems.

Starting from the Early middle ages and especially after the Great Schism of the East (1054), the Christian occident and the Byzantine empire separate, for reasons which are well more political theological. This separation gives two branches of Christianity, Catholicism and orthodoxy. This cultural dichotomy corresponds to the two old halves of the Roman Empire resulting from the division of 395: the East (Greek culture), and the occident (Latin culture). The rupture with Byzance is consumed in 1204, when Constantinople is taken by the cross of IVe crusade. This episode will leave deep wounds.

The unifying primacy of the culture should not make forget political divisions and linguistics which emergent as of the Carolingian time. The appearance of the vulgar languages and later of Protestantism calls in question the alleged Western unit. The Christian Occident is thus with the Middle Ages synonymous with Latin Chrétienté and extends in a remarkable way thanks to the action from the missionaries and the crusaders, before conquering new worlds, with the Grandes discoveries of the 16th century.

The social system constitutes a pyramid, with the foot of which the peasants are who account for 90% of the population and at the top the king. Two branches are distinguished: feudality and clergy. On these branches, the prince and the bishop are with the same row. Below the noble ones are, the minor nobility and the landowners.

Christian religion

Christianity is in the middle of the medieval history: it models the thought of the period, mainly because of its universalism and because of rise to power of the Catholic church organized around the Papauté of Rome. The borders of the medieval occident which escapes any political unit, also merge with those of the Chrétienté.

Organization of the Church

Become religion of State in the Roman Empire during the late Antiquity (starting from the edict of Milan, in 313, which grants to the Christians freedom of worship), Christianity, indeed, is diffused with the Early middle ages starting from several hearths: Ireland, kingdoms frank, Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and Rome.

The dilation of Christendom is accompanied by the installation of the ecclesiastical hierarchy - the Église while has suddenly indicated the latter - and the papacy, which rises with the head of this one, becomes one of the principal capacities in occident: the bishop of Rome, whose spiritual authority is based on the primacy of the seat of the Pierre apostle, becomes the sovereign pontiff .

This evolution is slow (5th - 13th century) and runs up against many obstacles:

  • initially, with internal resistances: the dogmas of the Church, formulated at the time of the Council S, are defined gradually and had to triumph over the heresies (the arianism of the Visigoths remains the faith of the kings of the Iberian peninsula until the 7th century; that of Lombards threatens a time - until the middle of the 8th century - Rome of disappearance).

Soon, Roman Christianity must be essential vis-a-vis Byzance, in particular during the crisis iconoclast (726 - 843). At the 11th century, the rupture with Eastern Christianity is consumed, putting an end to the problem.

Almost also important is the question of the adoption of a single liturgy: the national Churches have their own traditions which are based only gradually: the Irish liturgy, which fixes the Easter at a different date, carries it in British Isles until the Synode of Whitby (664). While developing the Christian mission (from 610) and while weaving privileged relations with the “cruel” sovereigns (in particular, while being based on the Anglo-Saxon kings and the expansion of the Francs into Germanic), Rome manages everywhere to unify the traditions of the Church and in the same time, to affirm its role with the head of this one, except at the Slavic ones which remain in the Byzantine sphere of influence.

  • Of external resistances is opposed to the influence of papacy, because the laic capacities intend to be involved in the businesses of the Church and to direct this one in their area of influence: the kings lombards, first of all, want to subject the Roman Church. Also, the pope calls upon the Carolingiens (middle of the 8th century), but the latter, like their predecessors, are not deprived to distribute the grounds of the Church to the laic ones. When the Christian Empire reappears in occident (800), the relationship between the capacities of the Emperor and the pope are not defined differently than in terms of report/ratio of influences. It turns initially to the detriment of papacy, whereas the Church, but also the imperial capacity passes through from all points of view a serious crisis, at the 10th century, and it is necessary to await the Gregorian Réforme (second half of the 11th century - first third of the 12th century) so that the pope does not face the Germanic Emperor, at the time of the Querelle of the Nominations. The latter, which is completed on a compromise, is determining to ensure the independence of the apostolic seat. At the 13th century, finally, papacy triumphs, thanks to its principal weapon: the Excommunication, with its role in the rise of Christendom, through the crusade, but also thanks to its temporal power and its richnesses. The Innocent pope III bracket at the time of its “reign” (1198 - 1216) principles of the pontifical Theocracy, which for the first time the Dictatus Papæ had formulated (1075).

Christianization of Europe

The rise of the Church cannot be dissociated of the effort of christianization of the company and the consciences: this last residence a constant combat during all Middle Ages.

According to the Christian designs, in accordance with the model of the apostles in the Gospel S , the Church designed like the assembly of faithful plain in the faith must be spread “to the borders of the ground”. For that, it can be based on the support of its influential members - as in Germanie, where it accompanies the conqueror frankly - but especially, it must rest on a voluntary act of accession and, in that, it can count only on the effects of preaching: this irrefutable fact is at the origin of the double face of the Christian expansion to the Middle Ages: at the same time peaceful and of a spiritual nature, but also marked by the war and violence.

  • Diffusion of Christianity during the Early middle ages:

During the Early middle ages, the Christian missions of Preacher S isolated, supported by Rome when it can it, successfully push back the political limits of Christendom while bringing to the conversion of the cruel kings and while resting to the influence of the Christian kings - as kings frank, whose adhesion with Christianity goes back to Clovis (496 or 498) - but their last concern, which is to make hear the message of Christ to the people of the last, remains an objective of most difficult to quantify. They are generally the work of monks, like Saint Colomban in Gaulle, Saint Augustin de Canterbury in Kent or Saint Boniface in Plank.

For this purpose, the Church also encounters resistances inside even of Christendom, where the secular clergy is with the head of the framing of the faithful ones, especially in the campaigns: symptomatic, the pagan word “” - paganus , that which lives the countryside - indicates that which practices the old religion polytheist before indicating all that is not Christian. The respect of Christian morals, in particular, is the subject of injunctions of the Concile S, of the Synode S Mérovingiens, then Carolingien S. The latter do not cease pointing out the interdicts, in particular slavery, condemning the pagan habits and trying to limit private violence.

  • Reforms, fight against violence and the Heresy S

For the feudal period, the synods attempt to fight against violences seigneuriales (Paix of God, Truce of God), the sale of the sacraments and the ecclesiastical functions (Simonie), the clerks unworthy (Nicolaïsme), and finally against the Hérésie S.

These last sporadically develop (around the year Millet) and, very seldom, settle durably as in Languedoc, with the Catharisme or in Bohemia, with Jean Hus (1369 - 1415), etc As from the 13th century, papacy can especially rest for this task on the Ordres beggars, franciscains and, Dominican.

But the temptation of the recourse to the force is large and violence often characterizes, as a last resort, the combat for the unit of the Church, which its first definition implies: it marks the forced “christianization” of the Saxony by Charlemagne (second half of the 8th century), gives place to the Albigensian Crusade, the birth of the court of the Inquisition under the pope Gregoire IX (1227 - 1241), to the Guerres hussites, etc

Manifestations of the Christian faith

The faithful ones express their faith in an open way and the religion is omnipresent: thousands of people answer the calls to the Croisade or launch out on the ways of pilgrimage. Considerable sums are committed to set up churches per tens. One comes to touch the Relique S and one leaves them during the processions. The border between crowned and the layman are always thin: the fear of the hell and the devil justifies many behaviors. The Middle Ages are also the time of the blooming of the Christian Mystique.

Economic, social and cultural importance of the medieval Church

  • the Church perceives taxes such as the Dîme in the kingdom of France. It receives gifts out of grounds, pieces of furniture or silver on behalf of the powerful ones which await in return its spiritual assistance (prayers) and policy. Large the Abbaye S has land goods sometimes very wide on which they take royalties and impose the tonlieux ones. In the Holy Roman Empire Germanic, the bishops becomes true lords with the rich person principalities head.

  • the clergy is made obey and respect the faithful ones. It distributes the Sacrement S necessary to the Hello of the heart. The priest who baptizes the children, Marie the couples, blesses the harvests and hears the confessions is a character impossible to circumvent of the daily life. The church and the cemetery are in the middle of the village and are places of asylum and meeting. The bells rythment time and the calendar celebrates the key periods of the life of Jesus. The clergy exerts social functions such as charity, education (monastic schools then episcopal), the care (Hôtel-Dieu, Hospice).
  • First of all, let us recall that few studies was done on the statute woman to the Middle Ages in France. The image of the woman confined with the sphere domesticates and with the education of the children more than one preconceived idea raises that a reality really known or studied seriously. What we know of the women comes from those which exerted a craft industry or worked in collaboration with their man. Letters of family submit a report/ratio of the Mariage S which were affectionate partnerships. It seems important according to R. Pernoud to leave the caricatures which would characterize the condition of the women to the Middle Ages like worst. Indeed, it proves that they had the " right of vote" (in the assemblies) for example. Their field little by little was confined and reduced to the domestic sphere with the advent of the ancient traditional culture. Previously, they had a real social role and a professional life. Let us not forget that the queens also were crowned by the archbishop of Rheims and that they had their authority recognized in the political arena. Marie de Médicis was the last crowned queen. They is later that the queens will be completely excluded from the political arena, at the time traditional. Let us recall that the women were not always isolated of the throne to the Middle Ages. The first provision in this direction is made by Philippe Beautiful the. Gradually, the religious S also were seen cloîtrées, but that was not always the case with the Middle Ages. Some Abbesse S had with the Middle Ages to be able as much that certain lords. The role of the women seems to decrease with the rise of the influence of the Roman law which is not favorable for them and this tendency will continue with the Renaissance. The study of the notarial acts is a great source to include/understand and decipher the statute of the women; those show that they had a greater autonomy than it is imagined. Thus the statute of the woman as much in the civil society that ecclesiastic seems to change at the 13th century. It is only at the 16th century that a stop of the Parlement of 1593 explicitly draws aside the women of any function of the state. to also see related topics, but the following is distinguished: the Courtly love - nuns - widows - the marriage - maternity - work - scholarship.
  • Arts and culture
A major aspect of the religion to the Middle Ages is its role in arts and the culture: as of the late Antiquity, indeed, the traditional Latin culture takes refuge in the monasteries, where one continues to teach the trivium and the quadrivium . Vis-a-vis the illiteracy of the people and cruel aristocrats, the latter and, more largely, the Church, par excellence remain the framework where the Writing survives: the well-read men, Theology NS, Hagiographal S and chroniclers who testify to their time, are monks or bishops. Certain ideas inherited the ancient Rome, like that of the State, which disappears at the 7th century, there are preserved and penetrated by Christianity.

Through the Carolingian Rebirth, carried by Alcuin, the Reform clunisienne, the Gregorian Reform, then with the creation of the Orders beggars and the rise of the University S, at the 13th century, the cultural and spiritual revivals emanates from people of religion.

The Romanesque art which is diffused with Cluny and the Gothic art, which is born with Saint-Denis before gaining whole Europe is religious arts. It is necessary in makes await the end of the Middle Ages (14th - 15th century) so that a culture Profane develops again in France, in the royal entourage of the legists and because of the contentions of the king with the Papauté.

Lastly, in all logic in this context, the texts from which is formed the ideology - in particular company and capacity - with the Middle Ages are the Christian sources: Old Testament gives its framework to royalty medieval (Charlemagne is compared to king David), works of Fathers of Church (in particular, Saint Jerome and, especially, Saint Augustin with the city of God ) frame reports/ratios social and finally, New Testament, whose Évangiles provide at the same time the apostolic example of life which animates the orders beggars and the compost of the Humanisme through the Incarnation, is at the origin of the ideological revival which marks the end of the period. Also, on the whole, the Christian religion inspires and model the medieval company by providing him at the same time its hierarchy (to the top of which the king is, intermediary with the Christ who reigns on the celestial hierarchy) and the first of its institutions: the Church, which compensates for the disappearance of the State.

Medieval royalty

The medieval Occident is controlled by sovereigns, but who do not have all the capacities. The royalty is contractual and not absolute. Monarchy is the most widespread political regime in Europe, even if some République S appear (Republic of Venice). The king must take account of other political actors such as the prince S, the Seigneur S and the Église. With the traditional Middle Ages, but more surely at the end of the Middle Ages, the kings of Western Europe (England, France, Spain) try to unify their states while being based on feudality and the legitimacy defined by the lawyers: the historians speak about feudal monarchies and the emergence of the national states.

At the time of the disappearance of the last emperor of Occident (5th century), the cruel kings established a new form to be able, providing the foundations of the medieval royalty. If the election remains in force in a theoretical way, the royal capacity is transmitted in the facts within the same family of noble or holy ascent which forms a Dynastie. The king of the Middle Ages takes under his protection his people: during the Early middle ages and still with the traditional Middle Ages, the written sources evoke the king of the Francs ( rex francorum ), for example.

Some of these kings are crowned (the king of the Visigoths, the king of England, the king of the Francs starting from 752), which places them above the other lords; all are crowned and carry badges (Regalia) symbolizing their authority and their mission. And especially, the medieval sovereign controls in close cooperation with the Christian Clergé . In the Papal States, the Pape reinforces his power and becomes a true monarch at the 13th century; it even sometimes happens to him to be opposed to the emperors violently (Querelle of the Nominations with the Germanic emperor) and to use the weapon of the Excommunication.

Lastly, the emperor is a particular sovereign: he intends to exert a universal power, at least in theory, and to protect the Church. He claims Roman heritage (Charlemagne, Otton I {{er}}) and is the only one to receive his crown of the hands of the pope.

Vassalage

See also: Vassalage

Vassalage existed already during the Early middle ages. The system evolves/moves in feodo-vassalic relations during the 11th century.

The ceremony follows very precise rules. The vassal one advances in front of its future Seigneur the naked head as a sign of respect. He kneels, in front of him, to express his humility, the united hands to him. The Seigneur takes them between his and raises it.

The vassal young person receives a stronghold (generally a ground which belongs to the lord or a right to take taxation of a bridge for example) and, in exchange, it swears on the Holy Scriptures, or a relic, its fidelity with the Seigneur.

Feudality

See also: Feudality

The period of feudality covers 9th at the 13th century. It is a hierarchical organization of the Noblesse binding the members between them. The feudal mode is made to be protected invaders, wars. Each lord engaged towards a more powerful lord: he became his vassal. The capacity of a lord was measured with the number of its vassal. Each vassal, in exchange of their honesty, received a stronghold, a territory. All the lords are the vassal ones but all the vassal ones are not lords.

Life of the knights

See also: Knighthood

Medieval civilization

The history of rural civilization and the material Culture of the Middle Ages at summer renovated by Jean-Marie Weigh, with EHESS, Michel de Boüard at the university of Caen, as from the years 1960, then Gabrielle Démians d' Archimbaud at the university of Aix-en-Provence.

August 1st

Urban rise

See also: City with the Middle Ages

  • the military vocation of the city declines with the profit of the castle-extremely but itself is locked up behind walls.

  • urban civilization (put at evil during late Antiquity) makes new great strides with the central Middle Ages. The city becomes again the place of the capacity and the capitals develop (Paris under Philippe Auguste).
  • the cities become production centres and know the emergence of a new social layer: middle-class; previously, the villæ (great rural fields) played this part (of Antiquity until the end of the Carolingian period).

Education and culture

See also: Education with the Middle Ages, medieval Philosophy, Science of the Middle Ages, Revival of the medieval occident of the year millet, golden age of the medieval Occident

During the Early middle ages and the central Middle Ages

  • Haven of peace in the Occident since the end of the 6th century, Spain is the academy of the ancient culture; the library sévillane is then the center more shining under the impulse of Léandre then Isidore of Seville. The Moslem invasion at the 8th century causes the collapse of the Royaume Visigoth , which explains the surge of thinkers Visigoth at the court of Pip the Brief and Charlemagne. In the same way, the invasions Viking S bring Irish scholars and Northombriens. This concentration of culture supports the rise of a new Roman Empire (after the fall of the Roman kingdom Visigoth) and of the Carolingian rebirth in the only space of safety in an Occident shaken by invasions with repetitions.

  • In British Isles and particularly in Ireland the monachism strongly developed and as of the 6th century the monasteries perpetuate ancient knowledge. These monasteries exempt a teaching particularly brilliance whose model will be taken again at the time of the Carolingian Renaissance. In particular a monk northumbrien, Bède Worthy the will be at the origin of the reintroduction of the seven Liberal arts in occident.

  • With 8th and 9th century the introduction of the Carolingian Empire creates a zone of stability in Europe or will be able to meet the scholars Visigoth, Britanniques, Italians and Byzantines fleeing their country of origin threatened by the invasions sarrasines, Vikings or lombardes. He results the Carolingian Renaissance from it intends to restore the Latin traditional which becomes an international language (Latin spoken being moulted in different vulgar languages). The abbey of Saint Martin's day of Tours constitutes one of the hearths of this rebirth, thanks to the action of Alcuin. The Caroline is developed to facilitate the writing. The linguistic and scriptural unification allows the exchange of knowledge in all the empire. The workshops of copy ( scriptoriæ ) multiply. The emperor endeavors to reform the schools. One learns the seven there Liberal arts ( trivium and quadrivium ).

    See also: Carolingian Rebirth

  • the dissolution of the Carolingian empire in a multitude of principalities generates the birth of feudality at the 9th century. The knowledge does not circulate any more and it is necessary to await the Renaissance ottono-clunisienne so that this cultural dash begins again. The Monastère S gather by orders at the time of the Renaissance ottono-clunisienne (Ordre of Cluny, Gorze then Cîteaux) are for a long time the agents of the Culture written with the Middle Ages. The rule bénédictine indeed imposes to the monks the professional work: the copyists work with the production of the books in the scriptoria . This religious structuring, will support the appearance of stable conditions in which will develop the rebirth ottono-clunisienne. The circulation of the knowledge of monastery in monastery is accelerated by the increase in the numbers of the pilgrims to the approach of the year millet.

    See also: Rebirth ottono-clunisienne

During the low Middle Ages (as from the 12th century)

  • the monastic schools are competed with by the episcopal schools at the 12th century, then by the Université S at the 13th century.

  • sciences and the acquired philosophy on behalf of civilization arabo-Moslem woman (see below), as well as Greek authors, come to supplement the seven Liberal arts , without removing them.

  • As of the 12th century, the schooling of the children develops in the cities, including that of the girls (before teaching was reserved to the clerks).

Art

See also: Religious architecture with the Middle Ages, medieval Image

The medieval Art is primarily a religious art: in architecture , the Romance churches of the rural period, succeeds, in the phase of urban rise, the large building sites of the Gothic cathedrals. The sculptures are already present in the period known as Romance, with topics often inspired of the Old Testament. The topics diversify, and the statuary becomes an art with whole share during the time known as Gothic (cathedral of Rheims). The stained glass appears in the Gothic cathedrals.

  • See also: Movable medieval

a) Romanesque art: Artistic production of the Occident extending since the end from Xe century until second half of the 12th century, the Romanesque art developed mainly in Occident after the dissolution of the Carolingian Empire. The Romanesque art is an assembly of novel ideas, always on the same topic: company of time being deeply nun, it is certain that the religion will show through through Article One feels however a direct influence of the Carolingian art, which preceded the Romance period, that it is by the construction of the buildings or the ornamentation of the manuscripts. Side of decorative painting, this form of art is so important that one opens schools to train the painters. The Romanesque art was propagated in all Europe in a few decades and is generally based on the preceding currents but while however being dominated by the religious beliefs of the time…

b) Gothic art: Gothic painting exists in the form of miniatures and of retables, tables religious on wood of several parts, which come to mitigate the absence of frescos on the naked stones of the cathedrals. The Virgin and Christ play a big role in these retables. In the books, it is the life of noble which is present (drives out, courteous life, banquets…). The color, the light and the prospect are characteristic. The faces are delicate, the lengthened bodies, the small ends, the long and fine fingers. The women are represented with a high and fine size, but a round belly. Indeed, it is with the mode to carry a cushion on the abdomen.

Redécouverte of ancient authors

The invasion of Spain by the Moslems at the 8th century causes the collapse of very cultivated Royaume Visigoth. Haven of peace in the Occident since the end of the 6th century, Spain is the academy of the ancient culture; the library sévillane is then the center more shining under the impulse of Léandre then Isidore of Seville. The priority is granted to the Christian great writers of 4th at the 6th century, in particular Augustin (354-430), Cassiodore (485-580), Gregoire Large the (540 - pope 590-604) but also with the older Latin fathers: Tertullien (155-222), Cyprien de Carthage (200-258), Hilaire of Poitiers (315-367), Ambroise (340-397). The collapse of their kingdom largely explains the surge of Visigoths great minds like Théodulf of Orleans or Benoît d' Aniane at the court of Pépin the Brief or Charlemagne. Same manner the invasions Vikings make come from the Irish scholars and Northombriens. The creation of a new Roman Empire (to replace the Roman kingdom Visigoth) and the Carolingian rebirth rise logically from this surge of knowledge towards the only space of stability in an occident shaken by the great invasions. Under the reign of Charlemagne, pushed by the intense development of the monachism (see: Benoit d' Aniane) and the adoption of a writing single and easy to decipher (the Caroline) the culture is spread in occident.

See also: Carolingian Rebirth

This rebirth will perdurera only the time of the Carolingian empire which will dissolve in multiple feudal principalities. But starting from the middle of the 10th century, of great states structure themselves in Europe supported by powerful religious orders (in particular the Ordre of Cluny). The old Spanish operating states in direct contact of the Muslim world, accommodate many Jews and Andalusian Mozarabe S fleeing persecutions of Al-Mansur. The monasteries whose libraries preserved already the knowledge of the Royaume Visigoth, still grow rich. The monastic networks which connect all Europe on the ways of saint Jacques de Compostelle will diffuse this knowledge. It is especially by Spain that the Arab culture penetrates in Occident and primarily by Catalonia.

See also: Rebirth ottono-clunisienne

Contrary to an often spread idea, one reads many ancient authors to the Middle Ages. That occurs in the scriptoria from the monasteries, which reproduce the books of the Latin authors in writing Caroline, on enluminés manuscripts, then in the urban schools (as from the 12th century) and the universities (as from the 13th century).

According to the manuscripts which one knows today the existence - what does not prejudge that of other works - one can affirm that with the Carolingian time, one knows Plato. At the time ottono-clunisienne (920 - 1000), one finds the Art to like of Ovide, the Aratea of Cicéron, Tite-Live, Salluste, Terence, Plaute, Catulle. One attends a revival of the studies on Aristote (Abbon de Fleury,…). Gerbert d' Aurillac (Sylvestre II, pope of the Year millet) had an exceptional culture, and knew in particular Stace, Juvénal, Persia, Ovide, Salluste, César, Sénèque, Pline Old the, Cicéron, Saint Augustin and largely contributed to reintroduce mathematics in occident.

Of 1060 with 1200, the movement continues, with the presence of works of Cicéron (philosophical works and morals), Suétone, Sénèque, but also of the poets Virgile, Lucain, Stace, Juvénal, Persia, Martial, Ovide. They are especially Latin authors, mainly because of the relations with Byzance which are very slack.

See also: XIIe century: the old one of gold of the medieval occident, XIIe century: the golden age of the medieval occident

Art of the manuscript

  • the art of the Manuscrit S also developed during the Middle Ages with Enluminure S and Miniature S in margin of the crowned or liturgical texts.

Literature

See also: medieval Literature, French Literature of the Middle Ages

The literature of the Middle Ages made a very frequent use of the Allégorie. The first author to have employed the allegorical writing was Prudence at the 4th century. He had an influence in literature during all Middle Ages. The kind of the Courtly love developed as of the 11th century. Other kinds had a great popularity (Chansons de geste, literature of voyage,…).

Music

See also: medieval Music

The music of the Middle Ages at the same time profane and is crowned.

Folklore

Beside philosophy and religion, the popular tradition conveyed also an eminently rich culture of accounts, beliefs, habits, manners, legends, tales, musics, dances, plays, usually of life… Whose comprehension is sometimes not easily appreciable at the present time. Let us quote, as example, the fantastic fauna which traversed the medieval beliefs, such as the dragon or the siren.

Sports and Plays

The majority of the sports were violent one, the sport having value of school of combat for the noble young people. One awaited boys of the nobility thus that they can draw with the arc, to ride a horse. The sports preferred of noble were the Chasse S and Tournois. The people practiced cockfights and trackings of bear. One liked also the team games. In such circumstance, a whole village could sometimes take part (like the drunk ). There were rules and referees, and certain plays often resembled a riot. One ends besides up prohibiting them legally.

  • children:
the small ones played with wheels, spinning top S, balls and headstocks. Some - inhabitants in seaside - built sand castles on the beach. The boys encouraged themselves with the " plays of combats" as the Boxing S and the Fight S.
  • the Tournament S:
the principal event of this festive set of weapons was the equestrian Joute (Tjost, in German). A duel with horse, to which each rider tested désarçonner its adversary using a épointée lance. The tournaments were particularly in vogue. The knights could show their dexterity thus to be ridden a horse and to handle the weapons. But many knights were seriously wounded there or even killed.
  • Board games:
the most practiced was the plays of the failures, the Dames and the Ludus duodecim scriptorum (kind of Trictrac). The failures were used as exercise for the tactics of the battle. The card decks arrived only at the 15th century. Even if people worked a long time, they had much spare time because of the many feastdays and religious bank holidays, that is to say approximately forty days off per annum. The games of chance, the dice, were regarded by the church as a sin, but were largely snuffed. The bets with the cockfights and similar animal combat were also of use.
  • Plays of ball:
the human ones played already in the times most moved back with balls. The majority were religious plays. With the Middle Ages, the balls are made of wood, bowels or animal stomachs, or stuffed fabric leather. Monks developed a play preceding the Tennis.
  • Hunting S:
At the 14th century, hunting was seen more like one sport than like a means of getting meat. In the countries densément populated like the England, most of the not built grounds was used by the owners like exclusive domain. Hunting was prohibited to the peasants who were to exclusively nourish animals resulting from the breeding: sheep, pig, poultries… and to take the risks of braconner of small wild animals. The angling was not looked like a sport - the result recording less bravery with the combat only of trick. The Fauconnerie (even with Around S) was appreciated as much by the noble ones than the hunt. The sport came from Asia and arrived to Europe about the 10th century.

Technological advances

  • the hydraulic mill is spread in the medieval Occident as of the Carolingian time.

  • the introduction of the Fallow, then the three-year rotation make it possible to increase the productivity of agriculture.
  • the outputs improve starting from 1000 thanks to the diffusion of tools out of iron and with rise of the Charrue.
  • technique of attachment: the collar of shoulders replaces the “collar of neck” and makes it possible to draw from the heavier loads.

War

See also: Military architecture with the Middle Ages, medieval Armament

  • the central Middle Ages is the age of the Chevalerie, marked by the superiority of the cavalry on the infantry. Combatant service, called ost , belonged to the obligations of the Vassal towards its Lord.

  • At the end of the Middle Ages, the weapons of shooting - English long arc at the time of the battles of Crécy in 1346 and Azincourt in 1415 - then firearms with Castillon in 1453, announce the end of the knighthood. The return to the preponderance of the infantry is acquired thanks to the Flemish piquiers (Bataille of the Gold spurs in 1302) and Swiss (Grandson in 1475 then Morat in 1476). These victories assure to the theories of standing armies of Machiavel (the Prince) made up urban or middle-class militia.
  • the first strong stone castles appear at the end of the 10th century. A great number of medieval cities are surrounded by ramparts (Paris, Rouen, Carcassonne).

Exchanges with Islamic civilization

First contacts

At the time of Charlemagne the first contacts with the people of Moslem confession took place: primarily by the wars in the steps of Spain.

As from the first decades of the 9th century, and until in the current of the 10th century, the Carolingian empire was attacked and invaded on three sides:

  • in North, by the Viking S,
  • in the East by the Hungarian,
  • in the South (Spain, Provence) by the Buckwheat S.

When the Abbaye S were plundered, this was it by the Viking S. Cependant, the men of the time of Charlemagne did not make the difference between Buckwheats (which came from civilization Musulman E then in full expansion), and the other people invaders. All were regarded as “pagan” (rather pejorative), or even “infidels”.

Starting from the foundation of Cluny (909 or 910) and until in 950 approximately, the situation is restored in the monasteries where the monastic life was restructured gradually thanks to the Règle of saint Benoît updating by Benoît d' Aniane.

Catalan rise

Al-Andalus which was a harbor of tolerance and culture transforms with the advent of Al-Mansur. The new vizier de Cordoue shines indeed by his violence and his religious intolerance. Many Jews and Mozarabs flee Al-Andalus towards the Spanish operating states. An surge of knowledge scientific and technical arrives to Catalonia whose monasteries still contain the ancient works preserved since the Royaume Visigoth.

In 985, Al-Mansur, the vizier of Cordoue, located at the south of Spain, attacks and plunders Barcelona, taking along with him of many Esclave S. the count Borell II request of the assistance to its suzerain Hugues Capet. This last not condescending to answer him, the count takes an independence in fact. Paradoxically, this event marks the beginning of a phase of development of the Catalogne which involves the other Spanish Operating states. The count reorganizes the defense of the country but must treat initially with Al-Mansur: many Catalans enlist as mercenaries of the vizier. Returned to Catalonia, they use the agricultural techniques known in the Califat of Cordoue (the Al-Andalus inhabitants were peasants these techniques are particularly developed) and reinject their balance in the economy. They build mills, irrigate the ground. The commercial exchanges with the caliphate and the Mediterranean world increase quickly. It results a population increase and technical from it as of the end from the 10th century. The monastic push and the development of the Pèlerinage of Saint-Jacques-to-Compostelle, will allow the transmission of this technical push the other Spanish Operating states, then with the rest of Europe, before the beginning of the Croisade S. It is especially by Spain that the Arab culture penetrates in Occident and primarily by Catalonia

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